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Saturday, January 20, 2018

We all know that the current government is engaged in a war with History, as established facts are revoked by a combination of diktat and mob rule. A parallel war has received more sporadic attention, but its consequences for our country and our society are not less perilous. This is the war on Science, and on scientific temper and rationality. The two are closely related. In each case, there is a tightening of the purse strings, a rejection of established standards of evidence and facts, the advancement of the careers of those with little academic credibility but of the correct political persuasion, downplaying the achievements since Independence, and allotting supervisory roles to certain `cultural’ organisations. Now, in the case of History, the reasons for all of this are clear. An attempt to reshape the ethos of the country needs to legitimize itself by changing our self-image, and that must rest on changing our perceptions of our past, and of those who have studied it so far. Scientists, however, find themselves at a loss when they wake up every day to a fresh attack on their work and their institutions. Why should they suddenly find themselves denigrated and deprived of resources for their work?

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Even
a few days before The Elgar Parishad (conference) was to be held in Pune by
many Dalit and progressive organizations to commemorate 200th
anniversary of battle of Bhima Koregaon[1]; it
was certain that it would not sail through smoothly, especially with BJP government in
power. With Shaniwar Wada (the palace of Peshwas, and seat of their rule) as
the venue where this show of Dalit assertion scheduled to be held, and Jignesh
Mewani and Umar Khalid as speakers at the event; it was no wonder that BJP-
Sangh pariwar tried hard to thwart the program. Attempts were made to cancel the event citing it as threat to law and order
situation. Descendants of Peshwas were brought into the picture- who termed it
as ‘mockery of Bajirao Peshwa and others who sacrificed their lives for the
nation’[2].
Keeping aside the fact that Bajirao Peshwa II sustained his flamboyant lifestyle on
pension provided by East India Company for long time; the curious invocation of
nationalism, and attempts to link it to Peshwai were by no means new, nor
marginal.

Notwithstanding
all this, Elgar Parishad on 30th December was immensely successful.
Mewani and Umar called for people to take to streets to defeat the New Peshwai
of Brahminical Hindutva and Capitalist exploitation. It was anticipated that
Sangh-BJP would try to create ruckus in the program, and would try to raise the
‘anti-national’ bogey at some point or the other. What was not anticipated was
the larger plan which would be unleashed; independent of whether the Elgar
Parishad took place or not, any frivolous ‘anti-national’ quote the Parivar
would get to harp upon or not. The violence unleashed on Dalits on 1st
January 2018 was not ‘riot’, were not ‘caste clashes’, were not ‘lumpens taking
to the streets’. It was a plot to widen the gulf between castes and further the
Hindutva agenda. The little media coverage it received only helped the Hindutva
forces to escape relatively unscathed from national attention, while the
Maharashtra Bandh called in protest of this was brandished as another instance
of how Left-Dalit progressive protests are nuisance, divisive and dangerous to
national unity. This anti-Left, upper caste-class bias of media was nothing
new. And under the present dispensation, the last figment of being politically
correct also has been done away with. So, no wonders over there.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Motiur Rahman Khan

A
Bill proposing criminalization of Triple Talaq has been passed by the Lok Sabha
on December 28, 2017. Draft Bill known as, 'The
Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017' is prepared by Ministry of Law under
Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Bill seeks to ban pronouncement of talaqin one sitting orally, electronically or
by any means whatsoever. The objective and justification for the Bill has
also been listed by the Minister, where it is said that even after Supreme
Court's verdict against the practice, incidents of triple talaq have come to notice. Hence, the
government, to curb the practice and to do gender justice to the Muslim women
has brought this Bill, which criminalises the practice of talaq-i-bidat and makes it a cognizable and
non-bailable offence with a jail term of upto 3 years.

Editorial

How do we see the world? It is neither a gaze, nor is it to invent the predetermined truth, it is to intervene from a position. Our seeing is changing at the same time and without any claim to excavate the unadulterated truth that never existed.
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